Mandela Family Fighting In Court Over Burials And Assets While Their Patriarch Fights For His Life

It’s been said that the biggest family fights occur during weddings and funerals.

But while the world prays for Nelson Mandela as he holds on to his life, his family is in court fighting…each other.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Mandela’s grandson, Mandla, was order to return the bodies of Nelson Mandela’s three dead children back to their original burial grounds.

In 2011, Mandla, the chief of Mvezo, dug up the bodies of the three children and moved them from Qunu to Mvezo where Nelson Mandela was born. While he may have been born there, Qunu is where Mandela was raised and where there is a family grave site. Mandela has always been very vocal about wanting to be buried near his children so the “hope” was that if his children’s bodies were buried in Mvezo, then so would Mandela and that would ultimately bring tourism dollars to the village.

However, the high court was not having that and he must return the remains. According to the Times, Mandla considers himself the current leader of the Mandela family but his aunt, Makaziwe, was the one who helped start this fight to get the bodies back to Qunu.

Although the details of the order weren’t made public, it has been noted that the family is fighting internally over money, assets and anything else that should be divided once Nelson Mandela passes.

Mandla is not a village favorite, as many see him as a dictator. However, he recently said that he would not continue with the fighting:

“I will never, while my grandfather lives, or after his passing, be part of the squabbling over his own assets and his own legacy. We should be preserving his dignity as a family and not be part of stripping it away from him.”

Nelson Mandela’s health has not gotten any better but South Africans and supporters around the world continue to pray for him.